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How much time had passed since the last attack? Jacoby had lost track, but it had to be a few weeks. He avoided looking at the calendar since it wasn't like he'd be leaving here any earlier. The hover had been fully upgraded and tuned up for a few days now, so he had nothing to do but oversee the gun range, which was barely used. His fan club, like Alex called the group of five, came every day, and some of the younger Samalians came by, tried a few guns and went back to what they were doing.

He wasn't needed there anymore. Those fives were experienced enough now that they could handle making sure any inexperienced shooter. One of the three females, the same one each time, looked at him and gave him a tooth showing rictus. Alex said that was how they smiled. It just made Jacoby want to take out his gun and back away carefully.

"She likes you, know you," Alex said.

"Good for her," Jacoby replied. "Shouldn't you be training your warriors?"

"Which ones?"

Jacoby looked over his shoulder. "Where did they go to?" the fighting area was deserted.

"Back to town. Something more important to do than practice."

"Yeah, they're taking this idea the fighting is over pretty seriously."

"And you don't seem all that bothered by it."

Jacoby shrugged. "Unlike you, I don't particularly care of this place gets wiped off the face of the planet. Tech's the job."

"Tristan."

"He's the job, so as long as he, you and me fly away from here alive, I'm happy." He looked at the sky. "My only worry is that they corporation will drop a rock on this place."

"They can't do that. The satellite net is in place and functional. If an asteroid gets through they are going to have some explaining to do. Space Gov is serious about protecting 'minority' planets."

"Right, that's why they're letting corporation build cities, force the locals into crowded neighborhoods, turn them into attractions for tourists."

"They can hide that, or at least pass it off as improving the Samalian's lives. A crater is harder to justify."

"And merc attacks are what? Culling the herd?"

"Until we forced them to escalate, it was just the overeager tourist."

"Yeah. You do know they're all dead, right? It isn't because we'll be gone the corporation is going to stop attacking. Whatever the attack is after we leave, they're not going to survive it. They'll give it their best and I have no doubt they'll take a lot of the mercs with them, but they don't think the right way to take on an army of mercs." He indicated the nearly deserted shooting range.

Alex didn't reply and Jacoby watched him for any indication he was planning on making protecting this place a permanent thing. It was his decision, but if he tried to rope himself or Tech into it, Alex was in for a surprise.

"Let's hope Tristan finishes that damned wall before the next attack, because it's going to be a big one."

Jacoby nodded, but didn't add anything. When he looked around him, Alex had gone. The town, he thought, until he saw him on the temple's roof, long-range goggles over his eyes, scanning the horizon.

He looked at the town and found himself thinking of his home. How long until the corporations found the planet? It was away from anything they owned, but so had Samalia, at one time. Would the corporation respect that humans lived on it? Or would they be considered locals, to be herded out of the way, or turned into attractions?

Maybe because he was bored, or slightly homesick, he found himself heading to the town. On the way he noticed Tristan was laying down stones for an alcove. Who knew, maybe today was the day he'd be done. Jacoby wasn't excited at the prospect. He'd lost track of the number of times Tech had almost finished the wall, only for him to go off on a rage and bring it all down.

The buildings in this town were close together, closer than he liked, but the Samalians liked the closeness it gave them. They would work at a window, talking with the person in the other building. Or they worked in groups, talking and jostling each other playfully. How tactile they were been sometimes too much for Jacoby, who'd been raised to maintain a proper distance between himself and the surrounding people.

Some of the Samalian greeted him in their language. Those who knew him from the shooting range grasped his shoulder or arm in passing, and he did his best not to flinch at the touch.

He walked by the tavern, it had a name, like any drinking establishment in the universe, but he didn't know it. Hadn't bothered trying to learn it.

Would anyone here surrender when it was obvious the other option was death? Would they be given the option? He didn't entirely understand why the corporation was working so hard at breaking their will. The idea Alex had of turning them into an attraction didn't sound entirely right to him. There were plenty of other towns in the area, one of those had to be an easier prospect.

Maybe there was a deposit of some rare metal under the town. Maybe the fact it was the only one on a plain meant something. Or maybe it was just a game for the corporation. Who knew with them?

He watched a group take down one of the home's wall and rebuild it. Talking, laughing and touching the entire time. Unlike what Alex thought of him, he didn't have anything against those people. They were probably good folks, maybe he could get to like them if he got to know them, but they weren't his people.

They weren't the people who'd saved his life.

He shook his head to clear it. Now wasn't the time to think about that. It always led to thinking of the kind of life he'd lived before, and that made him morose.

He focused on the children, attentive as their teacher spoke, letting a small animal run over his hands. He rubbed the head of the animal and then offered it to the closest child, who took it and laughed.

It was so different from how his education had gone, sitting in front of a terminal. He couldn't recall ever having a sense of joy at learning the things he'd had to learn. They had been things he had had to know. Or so his parents told him. He'd had to know his numbers, his letters. How to address the people his parents knew.

Maybe this was something he should suggest once he was back home. Bringing the kids in a group like this, teaching them by talking to them, instead of sitting them in front of a terminal.

That was if he ever got back home. Sometimes he wasn't sure. With Tech's inability to finish that wall, and Alex fraternizing with the locals. He had days when he felt like he'd die of old age here. He'd considered drugging both of them, but he'd have to deal with a pissed off Alex and that was more trouble than it was worth. He could get irrational when it came to Tech's wellbeing.

Or what he thought of as his wellbeing.

Tech needed doctors, not mysticism. Sure, these last weeks he'd been less volatile. He was able to get more of the wall done before becoming a sobbing mess, or exploding in rage. But that wasn't a cure. Hopefully Alex would see that when he was done with the wall and was still the same mess he was now. He just had to hope Alex would see reason then and not decide on some other magical cure.

He looked up. He so wanted to leave this place.

A buzz drew his attention to a pocket. Frowning he took the communicator out, trying to figure out who had its frequency. "Who's this?" he asked.

"Jacoby, you have to run."

"How are you?"

"You know me, you gave me the communicator." The voice did sound familiar, even with the comm's distortion.

"I don't give out comms, so I don't know who you are, but--"

"We met in Porfi'Nat, we talked, we helped each other." She, yes the speaker was a she, sounded out of breath.

"You're--"

"Yes, I am. Now listen. You must leave where ever you are. They know."

"Who? What are you talking about?"

She said something he didn't understand, but the tone told him she was cursing.

"One of the mercs you attacked saw you. He didn't know who you are, but they decided you are the one responsible for destroying the building."

Jacoby didn't say anything. He thought it was her, but he could be wrong.

"Are you there?"

"I'm listening."

"They got more information. There was an attack on a town in the wilderness, one of them came back and described two humans among those who fought them off. They matched your descriptions together. They know where you are."

"How do you know that?"

"I have allies within the corporation. Humans who think what they do is wrong. They tell me of the corporation's enemies so I can seek them for help."

"Okay, how large of a force?"

"Large."

"When will they be heading my way?"

More Samalian cursing. "Now! Jacoby, they are on their way now! You must run!"

"You mean they just left?"

"No, they left before."

"How long ago?"

"I do not know!"

Jacoby cursed and started running. "Thanks for telling me." He pocketed the comm. "There's an attack coming! Arm yourselves!"

If any of them understood what he said, no one reacted.